Mon, Oct 13, 2025 page3

• THSRC official defends ‘quiet carriage’ policy

  PUBLIC DEBATE: The policy targets disruptive behavior of people making loud phone calls or using electronic devices without headphones, not children, an official said

  • By Tsai Yun-jung / Staff reporter, with CNA
  • • 
    • 
    • 

  A senior transport official on Saturday defended Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp’s (THSRC) newly implemented “quiet carriage” policy, after people criticized it for “targeting families with children.”

  The policy, which took effect on Sept. 22, targets disruptive behavior rather than children, focusing on passengers making loud phone calls or using electronic devices without headphones, Ministry of Transportation and Communications Secretary-General Shen Hui-hung (沈慧虹) said in a Facebook post.

  “Infants, young children and passengers with medical conditions affecting autonomy would continue to receive care and understanding from staff,” Shen said.

  

  A promotional brochure about the Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp’s (THSRC) “quiet carriage” policy is pictured in an undated photograph.

  Photo courtesy of THSRC

  Her remarks came amid public debate over the policy, which has drawn criticism after being perceived by some people as “unfriendly” toward families.

  One social media post recounted an alleged incident in which a mother traveling with two young children was shown a sign by staff asking her to lower the children’s voices. She took her younger child to the carriage doorway, leaving the older one in the seat, it said.

  Shen said that when she recently traveled on a high-speed train, children were not disruptive and passengers with pets were accommodated without issue.

  “The intent is clear: mutual respect,” she said, adding that the policy addresses behaviors adults can control rather than unavoidable noises from infants or passengers with medical needs.

  Obstetrician Su Yi-ning (蘇怡寧) on Wednesday last week said true “quietness” is not achieved through suppression, but understanding.

  “If a society cannot tolerate the next generation’s cry, then there would be no next generation,” he said, adding that “silencing the weak is not civilization.”

  Su made the remarks on his Facebook page, responding to a post by an Internet user who talked about his experience of encountering a child who was screaming and crying behind his seat during a recent THSR ride from Tainan to Taipei.

  The user said that he had endured the screaming and crying for five minutes before he had enough and shouted at them.

  He wrote that he had argued with the mother and a food trolley salesperson, calling people whom he deemed noisy “morons” and parents “imbecilic,” and concluding that in nature, the weak and clueless deserve to be hunted down.

  Children do not deliberately make noise to annoy people, but because they are incapable of controlling their emotions, and the THSR’s quiet carriage was not meant to exclude children, Su said.

  “The quietness of the policy was never intended to be achieved through suppression, but through everyone being willing to take a step back and understand that parents are also making an effort,” Su said.

  When children are noisy, their parents might also be under stress, but other people might not notice that, Su said.

  Child-hating remarks are often disguised as rational, but are an extension of discrimination, he said, adding that “the civilization of humans is not based on silencing the weak, but on the strong choosing to be kind.”

  “True quietness comes from understanding, not suppression, and for sounds to coexist, not disappear,” he said, adding that children’s crying is a way of learning to communicate, so people can dislike it, but should not despise it.

  That the Internet user misused the “survival of the fittest” principle to rationalize human cruelty was “absurd,” he added.
• Most Popular

  • 1

    Boqvist scores as Panthers beat the Blackhawks

  • 2

    New Taipei City’s Wanda-Zhonghe MRT Line to open in 2027

  • 3

    Taiwan hotels receive inaugural Michelin Keys

  • 4

    Taiwan celebrates National Day with displays, speeches

  • 5

    PRC vessels faking signals to test Taiwan’s response